


Little Talks

by hbomba



Series: From Hel With Love [2]
Category: Lost Girl
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 00:03:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1530620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hbomba/pseuds/hbomba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back from Hel, Kenzi has trouble adjusting to life without Hale while Bo and Lauren revel in the doctor’s new successes until tragedy turns the tables again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: A direct sequel to To The Bottom. Please read that first.
> 
> A/N2: A sincere and heartfelt thank you to my editor @lonejaguar. She pushed this fic out of the mud it was stuck in for weeks.

The vodka ran dry two days ago. Kenzi had been on a self-imposed lockdown since coming back from the realms and Bo and Lauren had been along for the ride, except their unending sex romps had begun to overshadow Kenzi’s downtime. The only time Bo and Lauren would emerge from Bo’s bedroom was in the evening when they’d gamble for cookies or watch a movie. It was a strange little life that Kenzi had found herself in. She loved Bo. Period. And she had even grown to appreciate Lauren, but she was ready for liquor and Shifters and Valkyries, oh my. Mostly, she was ready for a break from all the moaning.

She opened the front door to the Dal slowly--no heads turned when she stepped into the mass of drunken patrons. She kept to the walls, pushing past a couple canoodling and a drunk guy that looked primed and ready to toss his cookies. She was three feet away from Dyson, about to cover his eyes, when he sniffed the air and spun around on his stool to confront her.

“Kenzi? He said, baffled by the sight of her. A moment later he was wrapping her into his arms. Holding Kenzi against his chest, he smiled. “Kenzi,” he said gruffly. “How did you--?” He inhaled deeply, releasing Kenzi quickly as he lurched at Lauren. She straightened but did not back away. “You, you’re Fae?” he asked incredulously. 

Bo pushed Dyson back onto his heels. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

Tamsin hopped off her barstool and leapt at Kenzi, absorbing her into another hug. Together, they bounced around in front of a small crowd of on lookers. It was a jubilant expression of love and affection and Kenzi ate it up, smiling into Tamsin’s shoulder. 

Bo leaned back against the bar, watching the scene unfold as Trick began filling pint glasses. He abandoned the round of pints and disappeared below the bar for a moment before reappearing with his best Buckthorne for Kenzi. “Trick, I think I love you,” Kenzi grinned as she poured herself a shot.

“Nothing but the best for our Russian warrior.”

Hours passed in a series of beers and shots and whiskeys. Kenzi was the belle of the ball, flitting around the Dal like a very real Cinderella that hadn’t yet lost her slipper. She was having the time of her second life. 

Bo raised her shot glass, arm slung over Lauren‘s shoulder. “To the bottom!” 

“To Hel and back again,” Kenzi added, from her seat on the bar.

“I can’t feel my lips,” Lauren touched her mouth.

“Shut it down, Dr. Lewis, shut it down,” Kenzi slurred.

“What about you?” Dyson chimed in with a toothy grin. “Losing your taste for the drink, kid?”

“Who me?” Kenzi acted offended. “I’m just getting started,” she said with a lopsided smirk.

Lifting a frothy pint to her lips, Lauren sighed as Dyson encroached on her personal space once again. “I knew you could, I mean, after Taft, but I never thought you’d experiment on yourself--” he stared at her with envy. The one thing he had always had over her was gone. His last hope to be with Bo lay crushed at her feet. Lauren had won. She could spot the moment his heart broke when his adam’s apple dipped as he swallowed.

“It was a matter of science,” Lauren slurred.

Trick’s eyes gleamed from behind the bar and Lauren could feel the weight of his disapproving stare even as she stood next to Bo.

“When you didn’t come around, I just figured you needed some time--I never thought you’d show up two weeks later with Fae Lauren and Kenzi back from the dead.”

“What can I say? I’ve been busy,” Bo smiled.

“You must know the implications of what you’ve done, Lauren?” Trick said.

“It’s only temporary,” Bo defended. “We just don’t know when it’s wearing off.”

“So it could be permanent,” Trick said.

“Or it could just be lasting a lot longer than anticipated, right Lauren?”

When Lauren spoke, all eyes fell on her. The expectancy in Dyson’s eyes was back and the doubt in Trick’s was overpowering, while Tamsin sat a few feet away, comfortably judging her from a bar stool. She swayed as she explained the source DNA--that of the descendant of Eir--combined with the longevity serum had reacted unexpectedly. What was only meant to last a few days had now lasted a few weeks. 

“Do you have any idea what consequences this will bring?“ Trick chastised her for even attempting such a stunt. “What were you trying to prove?”

Lauren puffed up, steadying herself on the bar. “I did it for Bo and for Kenzi and I‘d do it again.”

She had proven she could not only take Fae powers away, but she could also bestow them, albeit temporarily, on deserving individuals. She wielded great power and that made the Blood King uncomfortable. Lauren sipped her beer, looking over the foam at Bo. 

Kenzi shook her head at the scene unfolding in front of her. “Too much drama for this mama.“ She threw back another shot of Buckthorne. “C’mon, put away your petty differences long enough to get hammered.”

But Lauren was not backing down from Trick, who stood in judgment of her. She knew he had little recourse and Lauren had hidden her raw data well enough that there was little fear it could fall into the wrong hands. 

“Nevermind the ramifications to the Fae,” Trick said. “You acted recklessly,” he accused. “And I doubt even this neutral territory will be enough to protect you.”

Kenzi waved a hand between the two and threw back another shot of Buckthorne. “Easy, Trickster,” she said. “Lauren’s pretty cool as far as Fae go.” He looked away at the glass he was polishing as Bo leaned across the gap between them and whispered something in Lauren’s ear. She smiled. “I know that look.” Kenzi tip toed away from the pair. “Yo D-man, Tammy, how much you wanna bet I can still kick your butts at pool half in the bag?” Kenzi swayed her hips, throwing herself off balance, she lead the way to the pool table across the bar. She steadied herself on the table when she reached it.

Trick disappeared into the back room leaving Lauren and Bo to their own devices. They spoke in hushed tones, sipping from their pints, flirting with one another. Kenzi needed a break from the Bo and Lauren show so she was glad when the cue ball rolled to the opposite end of the table and she no longer had to look at Bo’s sex face. A crack of pool balls and the ball stopped just short of the pocket.

Dyson smiled and chalked his cue. “The Russian racket is a little rusty,” he teased. Kenzi’s eyes drifted away from the table to another place. Dyson watched her features change and knew exactly where her mind went. His long arm wrapped around Kenzi’s small frame. “I miss him, too.”

Oblivious to their moment, Tamsin leaned over the table and snapped a shot into the corner pocket, putting a hand on her hip to pose before pocketing another shot. 

Bo was whispering in Lauren’s ear again and Lauren could feel Dyson’s eyes on them. Jealous and impatient. Lauren felt more astute with the Fae beating in her chest. She wasn’t always a good judge of character but these realizations were cherry-picked from the ether and still Lauren knew they were accurate.

“He’s watching us,” Lauren said as Bo’s lips fell to her neck.

“So let him watch,” Bo said, her lips scraping along Lauren‘s neck.

“I’d rather not,” Lauren hummed. 

“That makes two of us.” Trick appeared behind the bar and dropped a crate of liquor on the floor. He pulled two more pints and spun them in front of the women.

It went on like this for hours. The crack of balls against one another, the uproarious cheers of victory and defeat, the quiet corner that Bo and Lauren found themselves in and the booze the kept flowing. 

The longer Kenzi played with Dyson and Tamsin the weirder the vibe became between them. She looked over at Bo and Lauren who were in a heated argument--probably about who gets to top who next-- and Trick, who watched it all begrudgingly. She looked over her shoulder at Tamsin who had crept into Dyson’s personal space a bit too far and if she didn‘t know any better...

Kenzi spun around. “You’re doing it?“ She said, not yet sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Bo looked up and watched as Tamsin draped an arm over Dyson‘s shoulder.

“We are.” Dyson smiled and scratched his beard nervously.

“Since when?” she pressed. “Before or after Kenzi?”

Tamsin bowed her head. “B.K.”

“You guys!” Tamsin and Dyson flinched as Kenzi swatted their arms simultaneously. “Look at you, getting your groove back,” she poked at Dyson. “And you, my little pierogi, all growed up!” A collective sigh of relief covered the pool table. Kenzi looked to Tamsin who looked to Dyson who looked back at Kenzi. “Would ya lighten up already, I get it, you’re doing it. It’s not a big deal. I live with them.” Kenzi pointed an accusatory finger at Bo and Lauren who were still talking dangerously close.

“Lauren’s living with you?” Dyson asked.

“The Doc sorta moved in after I came home. The Morrigan is pissed about something--don’t ask me--and you know Bo, she just wants Lauren safe.”

Dyson cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

Tamsin furrowed her brow and watched him try to hide the pain. She knew it well. In fact, their love of Bo was a uniting quality in them both. Tamsin knew that Dyson still loved Bo and while Dyson may not truly know the depth of her feelings for Bo, he had an inkling. But they were good together, minus Bo, too. The sex was rough, his hands were greedy, the afterglow was tender, yet fun, and she was learning about what really made Dyson tick. His motivations, still being hung up on Bo after all this time and most importantly his character. Tamsin had lifetimes of assholes, she wanted to start fresh this life and Dyson seemed like a good place to start.

Bo was leaning back in a chair balancing on two legs, her feet kicked up onto another chair and Lauren sat beside her, her head in her hands, asleep. Kenzi howled and smacked her hand on top of a stack of cash sitting on the edge of the pool table. She had just cleaned Dyson and Tamsin out of a month’s pay.

“It’s good to have you home but I can’t afford to play with you anymore,” Dyson slurred and put his wallet into his back pocket.

“I’m afraid I’m tapped out too,” Tamsin said, dropping into a leather arm chair that flanked the table. 

“C’mon!” Kenzi stomped her foot and looked around. “What the Fae? I mean, look at all of you!”

Kenzi scanned the room, Bo had nodded off precariously balanced between two chairs, Lauren had passed out hours ago, her head down on the tabletop, Tamsin was holding herself up on the pool table and Dyson was leaning against the wall next to her, eyes blinking slowly. She threw her hands up in disgust. “Trick, call the cabs.” She looked around for him. “Trick?”  
__

“Sweetie,” Evony pouted. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to do this one thing for me.”

“But Marco and Jimmy never came back from the forest.”

“Focus, Jack!” She snapped her fingers. “You’re going to bring the Doctor to me, or--”

“Or, what?” The Ogre said seriously. “What are you gonna do about it, Human?” He challenged.

Evony’s face fell. “We’ll, I’ll tell ya. I’m going to get my hands on the Doctor one way or another so I suggest you get on board.” She paced. “Or when the good Doctor restores my powers, people might start calling you One Eyed Jack.”

The gigantic man flinched at her words, knowing that she meant them. “What do you want?”

“I want the Doctor. And if you capture the Succubus, I won‘t take both your eyes.”  
__

The rabble had finally cleared out and Trick was catching his breath after such a busy night. He stood polishing a glass, which he discarded for the phone receiver, dialing the familiar number of a one-time enemy.

“Having nightmares about your troll again, Trick?” Evony said on the other end of the line.

Trick set his jaw. “We need to talk.”

“Now? Sorry, I’m waiting for my real booty call to arrive.”

“It’s about Lauren.”

“Oh!” She said, delighted. “Finally heard about her amazing now you’re Fae, now you’re not, act did you?”

“We have to protect the Fae.”

“Whatever are you suggesting?” She said with great amusement in her voice.

Trick sighed. “Just take care of it.”

“Don’t want your hands getting dirty, eh, barkeep? What are you going to do when your dear old granddaughter learns that you put a hit on her girlfriend?”

“She won‘t,” he grumbled.

“We‘ll see about that.” Her smile touched her voice.

“Evony--” he started. “Make sure that my granddaughter remains unharmed.”

“I make no promises. Play with the Dark and things have a way of not turning out how you’d expect. Remember that, old man.”  
__

The front door was wide open when the cab pulled into the laneway. Kenzi was the only one that saw it initially. She paid the cabbie and marched ahead of Bo and Lauren and into uncertainty. The entire clubhouse was overturned. She righted the stools, the tables, and the couch as Bo ran upstairs to make sure they were alone. 

“All clear,” Bo said returning a few minutes later. 

Lauren picked an array of magazines off the floor near the couch and fanned them out on the coffee table.

“What were they looking for?” Kenzi asked as she swept up some broken glass.

Bo looked at Lauren, who fluffed a pillow before tossing it onto the sofa. “Something they’re not going to find.”  
__


	2. Chapter 2

This passion in her body was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Lauren was changed. Fae, still, and the intensity of the emotions was overwhelming. She loomed above Bo, her hips, her very core, undulating against Bo’s. She braced herself with a hand against the headboard and pressed harder against Bo, a moan slipping free as she did so.

Bo smiled up at her, her hands covering Lauren’s breasts as she bit her lip. It was these slow, methodical lovemaking sessions that seemed to go on for days. Losing all track of time, measuring it through orgasms and all-consuming kisses.

This was living as a Fae and most of all this was loving a Fae. Lauren trailed her other hand along Bo’s jaw, her thumb brushing over her bottom lip before stroking her neck. She always thought she would tire of having sex all the time but her time with Bo has shown her that sex could never be the same twice.

In fact, life with Bo was rarely the same from day to day. Throw Kenzi into the mix and she had a real conundrum. How could life sustain itself on a level that she couldn’t even understand with science, the marker by which she judged everything?

Everything had changed and while Bo was still not entirely on board with Fae Lauren, she also knew that with the ambiguity of when Human Lauren would return was entirely unknown. So, in the meantime, she made the most of it as only a Succubus could.  
__

She couldn’t sleep. Not for sex noises or her own noisy conscious that night, but for Hale. Hale, who she had not been free of since returning topside. Nothing had changed, grief still curdled her blood and drove her mad with irrational anger. She flipped channels, mercilessly cutting off every person who dared to speak. She had little tolerance for stupid infomercials or demos on QVC or cancelled sitcoms. Unfortunately, that didn’t leave much else.

“Burning the midnight oil?” Evony’s voice cut through the silence.

Kenzi juggled the remote. “Jesus!”

“Everyone else in bed?” The Morrigan began to remove her leather gloves one finger at a time. Kenzi nodded, half-torn to run for Bo but also wanting to see how this would turn out. “Good. This way we can be alone.” Her smile was serpentine..

Kenzi stood and tossed the remote onto the couch. “Why would that be a good thing?”

“The business we need to discuss, of course.”

“I’m sorry but this is not okay. Bo and Lauren could come down at any moment.”

“Don’t you think they tired themselves out hours ago?” She smiled again, this time more nefarious.

Kenzi was coming out of her skin. It was three a.m. and she was going toe to toe with the Morrigan, leader of the Dark Fae. “What do you want?” _Did she just say that?_

“My dear ruffian, it’s time.”

“Time for what?”

“I’m cashing in on a little deal that you made with me.” The Morrigan grinned, her fire engine red lipstick in stark contrast to her white teeth.

Kenzi’s expression grew grave. “What do you want?”

“One of your roommates has a DNA collection. All I’m asking is that you bring me a vial of the neutralizing agent. One vial and we’re even.

“Lauren keeps that stuff locked up and hidden well. Even if I wanted to--”

“You mean you don’t want to help me?” She said, hand over her black heart.

“Of course, I do.” Kenzi rolled her eyes inwardly. She couldn’t betray Lauren, especially not for the Morrigan but she had to go along with it for the time being.

“Good, because I’d hate to read you the fine print on our deal.”

“I didn’t sign anything.” Kenzi defended.

“Oh, but you didn’t have to. Every deal you make with me comes with the penalty of death.”  
__

As Lauren lay with Bo wrapped around her, still drunk and yet unable to sleep, she felt the weight of both the Fae and Human worlds in her bones. Movement above her made the ceiling creak and then it fell silent again. Bo’s soft mews of contentment made Lauren smile.

Slipping away from Bo, Lauren stepped into silk pajama bottoms and pulled a wool sweater over a tank top. Lauren looked back over her shoulder at the sleeping Bo before tip-toeing away. At the top of stairs, she heard the melodramatic strains of the television. At the bottom, she found Kenzi curled on the couch watching a black and white film noir masterpiece.

She walked to the couch and sat beside Kenzi. “The Big Sleep,” Lauren said wistfully.

“Kinda ironic, I know.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Bogey and Bacall? Did you know that Bogart’s extramarital affair with Lauren Bacall got so bad that he was often too drunk to act and they were married three months after wrapping the film.”

“Kenzi…”

“What do you want me to say?”

“You must be going through a lot of changes,” Lauren said sympathetically.

“That’s just it,” Kenzi said. “I’m not. I’m the same girl who watched her boyfriend gutted by that asshole druid. I’m the same girl that was Bo’s best girl until you came along.” She sighed. “And I’m the same girl who was Tamsin’s Moms and Dyson’s thief and none of those things apply anymore. And you,” She looked at her hands and then back at Lauren apologetically. “There’s not much to Team Human without you.”

“Kenzi--”

“You all have each other and I’m alive, but I am so empty that I can’t feel my heart anymore.” Her eyes welled up with tears and she looked away. “Hale was my everything.”

“I know.” Lauren lifted a glowing palm to her forehead and Kenzi sighed.

“What are you doing?” Kenzi asked.

“Taking your pain,” she said softly.

Kenzi’s head lulled back onto the couch as Lauren brushed her hair from her face. She was growing weary now, ready for sleep at last. As her eyes fell shut, Kenzi drifted off on Lauren who allowed Kenzi’s warmth and weight to lure her into following close behind. When she awoke awhile later, Lauren laid her back on the couch and covered her over with a blanket. She looked up at the television, at Humphrey Bogart delivering his lines sloppily and smiled before clicking the remote, extinguishing the light and returning to Bo’s bed.  
__

She shivered as her skin came alive, her body abuzz with the relief of release. Bo had woken her up late that morning with soft kisses and a persistent touch, Lauren’s quiet hums giving way to breathless moans. Now hours later, she waited for her breath to return and Bo draped an arm across her body. But Bo could rarely keep still in these moments charged with sex, her lips following a well worn trail along Lauren’s jaw.

“We should eat,” Lauren said between kisses. “Or at least spend some time with Kenzi.”

Bo kissed along her neck to Lauren’s shoulder. “I am hungry.” The sparkle in Bo’s eyes belied something more and she leaned over Lauren, trailing a finger along her hip.

“We can’t.” Lauren pushed Bo onto her back.

“Now we’re talking.” Bo laughed, sitting up on an elbow.

Lauren climbed over her and stood bared beside the bed. “C’mon.” She extended a hand to Bo.

Bo stood and flipped Lauren’s hair off her shoulder. “It’s not too late--”

Lauren shushed her and reached for her clothes. “There’s time enough for that later.”

Bo groaned in defeat and slipped into her kimono before heading downstairs, Lauren trailing close behind. The television blared in the darkened living room when they arrived on the lower floor. Kenzi was curled up on the couch.

“What’s up with the lights?” Bo announced their arrival and flicked a few switches.

“Oh!” Kenzi sat up and turned the volume down. “You’re done? I mean, really done?” She looked between Bo and Lauren.

“Are you hungry?” Lauren asked as she began cobbling together breakfast.

“It’s dinner time.” Kenzi looked unimpressed.

“Breakfast for dinner is a thing,” Bo said looking from Kenzi to Lauren. “Scoot over,” she said, dropping onto the couch beside Kenzi. She leaned against her. “Whatcha watching?”

Kenzi made a noise. “Maybe not so close,” Kenzi withdrew. “You are kind of lacking in the knickers department.”

“Oh.” Bo shifted to the other side of the couch. “If this is about Lauren and--”

“All of the Fae-tastic sex you’re having?” Kenzi shook her head. “No, I’m used that.”

“Because I know I owe you some girl time.”

“Honestly, I wasn’t keeping track.” Kenzi pointed the remote at the television.

“Oh,” Bo said again, quietly. “You’re not sore about Lauren being Fae, are you?”

Kenzi laughed ironically. “I’m just gonna go out on a limb here and say that if anyone is sore, it’s probably Lauren.”

“Come eat,” Lauren called to the other women as she delivered two plates to the table.

Kenzi hopped onto a stool and, lifting the maple syrup, she doused her pancakes. “I gotta say, Doc,” Kenzi took a forkful into her mouth. “I’ve missed your cooking.” Lauren smiled, sitting down at the table with a plate of her own.

As Kenzi gobbled up her short stack, Bo tried to unravel what was going on with her. Was it Bo? Was it Lauren? Or was it Kenzi adjusting to returning from the realms? Whatever the case, she was not herself and Bo, despite being happily preoccupied with Lauren, could tell that something was amiss.  
__

Lauren was barely done watching the news before Bo pulled her away from her spot on the sofa. She should be used to this now, seeing them less and less, feeling like an onlooker to the most awkward third date. She was used to Bo’s libido. Used to the revolving door of partners to her dance. Used to the noises. She knew she wouldn’t see them until the following day even as Bo lied and said they’d “be right back.” But somehow she didn’t really feel thrown aside for Lauren. No, she felt loyalty toward her and the thought of betraying her for the Morrigan was eating her up inside. But it was go-time. She couldn’t risk Evony traipsing back into the clubhouse. She needed a plan and she needed it quickly.  
__

It was early afternoon before they emerged from Bo’s bedroom and Kenzi was nowhere to be seen. When she surfaced around dinner time, Lauren was reading at one end of the couch and Bo was channel surfing at the other.

“Ah, domesticity.” Kenzi poured herself a glass of orange juice and sat at the table.

Lauren looked up from her book. “Go talk to her,” she urged Bo quietly. “She needs you.”

Bo clicked the television off and stood, brushing the wrinkles from her pants. “Everything okay, Kenz?”

“Just peachy,” she replied disingenuously.

Bo ignored her tone. “You know if you need to talk, I’m always here for you.”

“Are you? Really? You rescued me from the realms and then you left me to make sense of it on my own.”

Bo opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself. She sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m kind of new at this bringing people back from the dead, Kenz.”

Lauren spoke up from the sofa. “We love you, Kenzi.”

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it,” she grumbled.

“Lauren turned herself Fae for you,” Bo said defensively.

“Did she? Are you sure about that? Because from where I’m sitting, it seems to be benefiting you more than anyone else.”

“Kenzi…” Lauren sighed.

“It’s okay, I’ve been thinking about it and I think I’m going to move out.” Kenzi clapped her hands together.

“What?” Bo was growing annoyed with Kenzi’s grandstanding.

“You guys don’t need me around, breaking up the sex all the time and to be honest, I can’t deal with the sex noises anymore either.”

Lauren chimed in. “This is my fault, I should be the one moving out.”

“Just hold on, nobody is moving out! We can figure this out.”

As if on cue, a taxi honked out front. Kenzi slid into her winter jacket. “See you around.” It wasn’t until Kenzi walked to the entryway that Lauren and Bo saw the pair of suitcases packed and ready to go beside the two-by-fours.

“Kenzi,” Bo pleaded. “Don’t do this.”

She shrugged. “It’s already done.”

In the wake of Kenzi’s departure, there were tears and then Bo began to break things. Lauren tried to calm her to no avail. Bo had searched Hel and back to bring Kenzi home only to lose her to her own selfishness.

“Just give her time to cool off and she’ll come back,” Lauren reassured.

“Kenzi left me once, I‘m not so sure she‘ll come back a second time.”

“Then we’ll find her,” Lauren said simply. “We’re family.”  
__


	3. Chapter 3

She used the key, still on her key ring, and opened the door. She inhaled. It still smelled of him. The light above the stove was still on, something he did for Kenzi, so she could find her way in the dark. She dropped her suitcases beside the door. Everything was immaculate, except a stack of half-empty boxes. Hale’s sister must’ve started packing his stuff and had to stop. Kenzi went from room to room, turning on all the lights, trying to chase Hale’s ghost into her waiting arms.

She stared into the bathroom mirror, observing the bags beneath her eyes for some time. When she had grown tired of her own face, she opened the vanity mirror and removed a flask of aftershave. Unscrewing the top, she inhaled. Hale. She dabbed the pungent liquid on her pulse points, leaving the container on the bathroom counter. She dragged her feet as she walked across the polished concrete floors to the risers that held his bed aloft. She climbed the small set of steps and pulled back the duvet. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she removed her boots before climbing in. Kenzi flopped face-first into the pillows, inhaling deeply. She scrunched the pillow up under her arm and held it, hugging him.

“Hale,” she swallowed. “I am so sorry.”

Kenzi felt responsible for his death, as much as she had tried to blame it on Bo, Kenzi knew that the responsibility lay squarely on her. She had stupidly given up the Zamoran Twig for what amounted to pixie dust and it had guaranteed Massimo’s life. His life over Hale’s.

She choked on a sob. She had tried so hard to go back to being goodtime Kenzi when Bo brought her home but everything had changed. Bo and Lauren, Tamsin and Dyson. She was supposed to be with Hale. He was supposed to be there with her. 

She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and sat up, holding the pillow against her chest. She had let everyone down. Bo who almost lost Lauren to Massimo, Tamsin and Dyson who she died heroically for only to come back and live like a coward. She dragged the pillow down the steps from the bed to the sofa and she clicked on the television. 

She remembered feeling so safe in Hale’s arms, invincible even. The television was programmed to start up on the sports channel. She held the remote in her hand poised to change the channel but couldn’t bring herself to do it so she stared blankly at the basketball scores and wondered what Bo was doing.   
__

Bo stared as Vanna White paced in front of the puzzle repeatedly. Leaning forward, elbow on knee, Bo tried to decipher the brainteaser. Lauren knew if she asked her now what the category was that she wouldn’t be able to tell her. She was staring into space, thinking about Kenzi.

“She’s gotta know how we feel about her.”

“She knows,” Lauren reassured. “Listen, she hasn’t been sleeping, her logic center isn’t working properly, she’ll see her mistake and come home.”

“How do you know all that?”

“I caught her up late a couple nights ago. She was pretty upset.”

“This is why she thinks I don’t care…” Bo sighed. She lifted her cell phone from coffee table and dialed. “Tamsin,” she said. “Meet me at the Dal. We have a Russian to track down.” As she ended the call, Bo turned back to Lauren and half-asked, “you‘re gonna stick around here, right?”

She bit her tongue, quite literally and waited for her bad humor to pass. “Sure,” she said.

“I know you’re not Tamsin’s biggest fan,” she justified, her hand on Lauren’s knee, stroking it gently.

“No, you’re probably right,” Lauren said begrudgingly.

“If you don’t want me to go…” Bo trailed off.

“No,” Lauren whispered. “Kenzi needs you.” Lauren’s emotions bubbled right under the surface. “Be careful.”  
__

“I don‘t even know why we‘re here,” Tamsin said. “She made it pretty clear how she felt about her family.” 

“Because this scumbag has eyes where we don‘t.”

“So what‘s the plan?”

“I’m thinking a rousing round of bad cop, badder cop.” Bo patted the dashboard and slid out of the Camaro.

“Is that why you didn’t bring Lauren?”

“Are you kidding me?” Bo replied. “She’s a terrible bad cop.”

Bo had parked in the fire zone in front of the smarmiest bar in Little Moscow. Dmitri was leaning against the front of the bar smoking a cigarette as the women approached. 

“Mackenzie’s friend,” he pointed at Bo, he nodded at Tamsin. “And this one, did you trade up for a new blonde?” Bo elbowed Dmitri in stomach. 

“You’re a pig.” She pushed him back against the wall and swatted the cigarette from his hand. “Where is she?”

He sneered. “You would know better than me.“

“Don’t be a shithead.” Tamsin’s hand clamped onto Dmitri’s throat. “My friend asked you a question.” Tamsin pulled back her jacket to reveal her service weapon. “I‘ll ask again: Where’s Kenzi?”

“I thought you knew.” Bo crossed her arms and leaned against her shoulder. “Sure, sure, insurance fraud got you down? She run out on you? I can help you out.”

“Is that right?” Tamsin pushed her forearm against Dmitri’s throat. “I get the sense that you don’t have any idea where Kenzi is or what she’s doing so don’t dick us around because, and I think I speak for Bo when I say this,” Bo raised her eyebrows and nodded at Tamsin. “You don’t know shit about Kenzi.”

“And you never did.” Bo pushed Dmitri again.  
__

Lauren was reading on the couch when she heard the outer door open and bang against the front of their home. She waited for Bo to return, sure that she had forgotten something. When heavy footsteps walked slowly into the clubhouse, panic surged in her body. She wasn’t ready for any of it but Lauren reacted quickly, the Fae in her blood acting as the impetus, the spark that gave her an edge. 

She leapt to her feet and threw the coffee table onto its side, ducking behind it. She surveyed the area. Three hulking bodies charging her way. Lauren moved toward the kitchen only to be cut off by an ogre. She inched her way toward the umbrella stand and lifted a discarded katana from behind an ancient umbrella.

She stood at the ready, staring down three ugly ogres, when a fourth ogre grabbed her from behind. She thrashed after he disarmed her and kicked wildly. This wasn’t the first time she had been subdued by the wards of the Morrigan but last time she swore to herself that she wouldn’t let herself be taken so easily.  
__

The door swung wide as Bo pushed through it and into The Dal Riata 

“I didn’t know I could get so thirsty, so quickly,” Tamsin groaned as she sat in front of Trick and patted the bar. “Can I get a cold one, Trick?” Trick pulled a flawless pint and spun it along the bar towards Tamsin. She lifted the beer from the bar and took a long sip. “Sweet, barley and hops,” she moaned.

“Tell us how you really feel, Tammy,” Bo teased.

“No luck with the cousin?” Trick asked.

“Afraid not,” Bo replied. “Just a bit of wishful thinking.”

“So, Lauren let you out of the house by yourself,” Tamsin remarked.

“She didn’t let me do anything. I made an executive decision. Just be glad I dragged you along for the ride.”

“Yeah, so far it’s been a blast.” Tamsin took another sip off her pint.

“She’s my best friend, I should be able to find her.”

Tamsin took a long drink from her pint glass. “I’ve got an idea.”  
__

They shut her in the trunk and Lauren tried to stay calm but that was becoming increasingly difficult. Laid on a blanket that smelled of gasoline, oil, and windshield wiper fluid, and she was sure a tire iron was pressing into her back. “Shit.”

Some time later they stopped and she was lifted from the trunk. She was never allowed to find her footing, instead being pulled along by her armpits, her feet kicking at the ground as she was dragged. A creaky door opened and then Lauren was being thrown onto a couch. Her breath came heavily inside the canvas hood that covered her head. One minute passed. And then two. She wasn’t letting her guard down, though. She knew she wasn’t alone.

“Dr. Lewis,” Evony’s satiny voice filled the room, finally, wherever she was. Lauren remained still, quiet. “Oh, come now,” she slipped the hood from Lauren’s face. “That’s better,” she said, stroking Lauren’s cheekbone.

She glared at The Morrigan and set her jaw. She knew that Evony was more than a little anxious to get her powers back but Lauren had no intention of rearming a nuclear weapon. Especially not when her first order of business would be to melt Lauren’s face. 

Evony helped her sit up. “Sorry, I had to result to kidnapping--”

“Now I know where Massimo got his manners from,” she interrupted.

“Let me see what they’ve done to you?” She lifted Lauren’s chin and appraised the cuts on her bottom lip and forehead. “I bet you put up quite a fight,” she said with a smile.

“What do you want?”

“Well, for starters, there’s the small matter of you taking my Fae, though I am still impressed with your mode of transmission. That was--just amazing. Did you learn those moves from the Succubus?” She laughed.

“I’d ask you where you learned your moves, but…” Lauren sighed. “I’m really not that interested.”

Evony laughed. “You’d think that your implication that I’m a bad lover would upset me, but..” She sat on the arm of the sofa and played with strands of Lauren’s hair. “It was only my intention to be with the best.”

“You need to set the bar a little higher.”

“You would know a thing or two about that,” she hardened, “wouldn’t you? After all, you bagged the Fae that raised all the bars.” 

“I hope you’re not talking about yourself,” Lauren groused.

“Since we’re on the subject, tell me, what was it like slumming with a Fae like me?”

“Surely, this isn’t the reason you brought me here.”

“I was going to kill you but now, I can’t decide. Such a perfect creature,” she started. “and the best kind of bait. I could easily turn you in for a Succubus. But then…” she sighed. “Where am I going to find a doctor that can turn Fae to Human and back again?” 

“I’m not turning you back.”

“Too late for that, Doctor. My powers are back--”

“Then why aren’t I a puddle of goo right now?” Lauren asked.

“When I say my powers are back, I mean that they have returned to me in their infancy.”

Lauren perked up, sitting on the edge of the sofa cushion. For a moment Evony had Lauren’s complete attention. “Your attacks have lost their potency.”

“How did you know?”

“I hypothesized that the genes could mutate and--”

“So you must know how to fix me…”

“Theoretically.”

“Does that mean you’ll reconsider?” Evony pouted.

“I won’t help unless you can guarantee our lives.”

“I’ll admit I was upset but once I got over the periods and adult acne I thought what a revolting race of people. And started to feel sorry for you again.”

“I have to know that we’re safe. That you aren’t going to send some death squad to our bedroom in the middle of the night--”

“Easy, Clarice, death squads are so gauche.”

“And Ogre gangs aren‘t?”

“With enough baby oil they are fantastic.” Lauren’s face fell. “Easy, Doctor.”

Lauren raised her voice. “I want your blood oath.”

Evony turned to face Lauren. “A human cannot take a Fae’s blood oath.”

She straightened. “I’m not human anymore.”

The Morrigan laughed heartily. “As if the very model of a physician with scruples would risk her license playing God with herself.” Evony paused and considered this. “Unless--” She paced in front of Lauren. “Did Bo put you up to this?”

Lauren made a face. “You kidnapped me,” she reminded her.

“So you took my Fae for yourself.” Something inside Evony snapped.

“No,” Lauren shook her head, becoming mildly concerned about just how infantile Evony’s powers were. “I didn’t--”

“I want it back.” Evony’s voice shook with the tempest of Fae still within her grasp . 

“I can’t,” Lauren said solemnly. 

“Don’t give me some holier than thou excuse, Doctor. Just do it.”

“I haven’t done the research.” Lauren looked away from Evony’s critical glare.

“You mean to tell me, you’re cavorting around with your Succubus girlfriend after you fed me this serum like I was your high school science project and I’m stuck like this forever? Try again.”

“That’s not why I did it.” At least that’s what she told herself every morning when she looked in the mirror and opened her eyes to glowing palms. On some level she had done it for Kenzi, too, but somewhere along the way, amidst the sex that went on for days and being fed on for many nights, Lauren had forgotten that this thing she did, it wasn’t about her originally. It was about saving her friends, her family. And look at how that had turned out. Kenzi had run away, Bo was somewhere looking for her and she was prisoner of the Morrigan again. 

“Just keep telling yourself that, honey.” 

“Take these cuffs off,” Lauren ordered.

“Looks like you’re doing just fine on your own.” Evony looked at Lauren’s fingers picking the lock with a bobby pin and made a disapproving grunt.   
__


	4. Chapter 4

“This is ridiculous,” Bo said as she walked on uneven ground.

“No more ridiculous then going to Dmitri for help.”

Bo stopped walking. “Touche.”

They searched the headstones for the recently resurrected. “Over there,” Tamsin pointed before dashing toward Kenzi’s headstone. A half-finished soda and bag of Cheetos sat in the grass. “She was here,” Tamsin said. 

“Now what? We follow Day-Glo fingerprints back to her hiding place?” Bo asked incredulously.

“I think I liked you better before your trek through the underworld,” Tamsin grumped.

“I’m sorry, I just want to find her and I have no idea how to do that.”

“Maybe she’ll turn up at the clubhouse.” Tamsin shrugged. “Stranger things have happened. Besides, Lauren‘s probably anxious to get you back in your shackles.”

“Would you stop with that. For your information, I like hanging out with her.”

“Yeah, naked,” she teased.

Bo retrieved the keys to the Camaro from her pocket and sighed. “Have you ever felt bent so completely over another person that it didn’t occur you to even be bothered by it?”

Tamsin sucked in a breath and tapped her foot. “Yeah, I’ve been there.”

Surprised, Bo cocked her head, “Lifetimes ago?”

“Not exactly.” What could she do? She was stuck royally now. “It’s Dyson,” she blurted.

“Oh,” Bo sounded more upbeat than Tamsin had expected.

“He’s good to me,” she smiled. “Better than I’ve been treated in all my lives.”

Bo held up a hand. “Easy, Lolita, he’s still my ex.”

“Sorry,” Tamsin wrung her hands. “I thought you had moved on.”

“I have,” Bo shook her head, rattling her thoughts free. 

“So, we’re cool?”

“Yes,” she grabbed Tamsin’s hand. “Of course,” she said once for Tamsin. “Of course,” she said once for herself.  
__

When Bo pulled into the driveway and the front door was wide open, again, she knew immediately that there was something wrong. Bo cut the engine, pocketed her keys and bounded into the clubhouse.

The coffee table was overturned, the television was still on, there was blood on the floor and Lauren was gone.

She sucked in a breath. “Shit,” she said as she turned around and headed right back out the door.

In the car, Bo slammed her hand against the steering wheel, pissed at herself that she had let Lauren be taken. All of which was made worse by the fact that Lauren wanted her autonomy and Bo wanted to give it to her, but even a Fae doctor was no match for a gang of ogres. 

She knew just where to go, driving straight to the Morrigan’s. She unbuckled her seatbelt noisily and made a beeline for her office. Bo moved freely through the Morrigan’s inner sanctum, a sometime friend and more often than not, a cursed ally. Bo kicked open the door to the Morrigan’s office. She found Lauren shackled on the couch, who looked up, relieved.

“If it isn’t the Succubus,” Evony said. “Come to join the party?”

“I thought we had a deal?” Bo said.

“Once upon a time, when you had something I wanted, we had a deal. Now, your girlfriend has started a new war. Even that little thief BFF of yours has let me down.”

“Where’s Kenzi?”

Evony laughed out loud. “Who knows? That little ragamuffin finally saw the light and got the hell away from you.”

“She’s not here,” Lauren said, to soften the blow Evony had landed.

“Oh, you be quiet,” Evony directed. “This is all your fault, after all.” She turned to Bo. “Did she tell you how she did it?”

Bo’s eyes wandered to Lauren. “I have an idea,” she replied. Lauren struggled against the handcuffs that had baffled her for the past hour she’d been trying to free herself. “Keys. Now,” Bo insisted.

Evony chuckled. “So demanding since your Dawning. I knew we shouldn‘t have let you live that long.” Lauren glared at her. “It’s a shame she doesn’t like to be chained up. That’s something you can teach over time, though. If you’re interested I have a few pointers.”

Bo drew her sword from behind her back and began to dismantle the Morrigan’s office. She slashed the wallpaper and kicked over the chairs. “Keep talking.”

“Settle down, Succubitch, you’ll get your lesbian lover back unharmed. I just need one thing from her.”

“I’m through bartering with you. I want those keys.” Bo squared up to the Morrigan, her sword scraping the delicate skin along her neck. She froze, hands scrambling for her desk drawer. Retrieving the keys, she carefully passed them to Bo.

“She’s powerless,” Lauren blurted.

A smile spread across Bo’s features. “Is that so?” Bo kneeled in front of Lauren. “You okay?” Lauren nodded as Bo began searching for the right key on a ring with countless keys that looked the same. “You have got to be kidding me,” Bo growled.

“What can I say? It’s more fun this way,” Evony hummed and leaned back against the desk, watching the duo. “This reminds me of that one time,” she smiled wistfully.

“Nobody cares about your twisted sex life,” Bo said firmly.

“Aw, I thought you of all people would be into kink, Succubus.”

Bo slid another key into the handcuffs. Click. Lauren sighed as the cuffs popped open. She closed her eyes momentarily to thank whatever deity she owed a great debt to.

“Oh,” Evony pouted. “That’s no fun at all.” Bo helped Lauren up and they walked towards the door together. “Please.”

Lauren looked back at Evony and was guilt-ridden once again. She actually felt bad for Evony, after every terrible thing she had done, Lauren felt forgiveness. She had discovered what the real difference between Human and Fae and it is empathy, conscience, and regret. 

“Fine, I’ll help you. But not here.”

“You mean I have to set foot in what could only be described as your squatter’s paradise?”

“Take it or leave it.” Lauren drove a hard bargain for someone who had totally caved to the evilest pout known to Fae. She couldn’t be bothered to play this cat and mouse anymore, it was the Fae at home she was concerned about.  
__

Bo was quiet, uncomfortably so. Lauren knew what was bothering her and she had to admit that sleeping with Evony weighed heavily on her mind as well. The engine of the Camaro roared and the sound sobered Lauren. She held the dash as Bo took a tight corner.

“I’m sorry,” Lauren said.

“For what?”

”Bo…” she said sadly.

“I’m not mad. I’m mildly irritated but I’ll get over it.”

The Camaro sped along a straight-away, Lauren looked from the darkened stretch of highway to Bo. “Bo,” she said, desperation creeping into her voice. “Bo,” she said again. “Stop the car, I can’t talk to you about this when you’re driving.”

Bo slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. She squeezed the wheel and exhaled. The silence was deafening, Lauren didn’t want to move for fear of disrupting it. Strangely, it was Bo who spoke next. “Are you hungry?” Lauren stared blankly at Bo. “There’s a great little diner down the street.” 

“I think we should talk.”

“C’mon, everyone wants a midnight milkshake.” Bo smiled. “We can talk about it there.”  
__

She parked the Camaro in a spot by the door and followed Lauren into the diner. They sat in a booth at the far corner of the dining room and Bo grinned over the menu at her. 

“I thought we were fighting.”

“I think we’re on the same side, about this.”

“Bo… it was an means to a end. Sure I could have dosed her another way, but I needed to be sure she… ” her voice trailed off.

“Got the whole dose?”

“--Was distracted enough not to notice.”

“Smart.” Bo studied the list of desserts. “I know I never want to leave.”

Lauren smirked at Bo smiling into the menu. “I’m still sorry.”

“When you commit to an idea, you commit, I’ll give you that.”

“Evening, Ladies.” The waitress sidled up to their table with a well-worn half-pencil and a pad of paper. “Can I get you something to drink or do you need a little more time?”

Bo smiled up at the redhead whose blouse was emblazoned with a name tag that said Cheryl. “A chocolate milkshake for me, and,” she gestured at Lauren.

“I’ll have the same.”

The waitress smiled at Bo knowingly as she walked off, something Lauren was used to, but not entirely okay with. Such was the landscape of their relationship. “All this research I’ve been doing has been,” she swallowed. “Consuming me and confusing me as to what end I really want. I justified my research with using that serum on myself because I wanted to protect you. I know how feebleminded that sounds when I say it out loud but I thought I could help. I never considered it could be used as warfare between Fae and Human. I never considered that I would set that bar.”

“We all have our parts to play,” Bo said. “So what now?”

“I wait. I can’t believe that of all the probabilities that I solved the longevity of the serum on the first try and applied it to myself.”

“You mean, you can’t believe you’re that good,” Bo chuckled. “Oh, Doctor, I respectfully disagree.”

“I can’t be Fae, I can’t--”

“Has it been so horrible, making love for days?”

“You, yourself were resistant to feeding on me. Even when you came back from the realms and it felt like we both just got tired of fighting, resigned ourselves to the situation and made the best of it. Bo making love to you has been the highlight of my life but what I did with Evony,” Lauren sighed, “I hate that woman. I mean, truly hate her for all that she’s done to you more than anything she’s done to me.” Lauren paused, reigning in her floundering emotions. “So don’t you see? It’s me that is the flaw in my experiments.” 

Bo looked down at their hands. “Not from where I’m sitting.”

In the impeccable timing of the diner and food establishments in general, that it was at that exact moment when the waitress decided to deliver the milkshakes. Lauren pulled away as Cheryl dealt a napkin to each of them before setting the tall glasses in front of them. She pulled two straws from her apron and set them in front of Bo who eagerly tapped them on the table, removing the paper wrappers. She poked the straw through the whipped cream on Lauren’s milkshake.

“I used to be a healer. I could do things that no one thought possible with science. As a human.”

“You still can,” Bo interrupted.

“No, now I kill people. Eir was a healer but nothing changes the bloodlust I feel with her rage coursing through my veins. 

“Lauren,” she reached across the table and covered her hands. “You can be whatever you want to be. Being Fae doesn’t decide your fate. You taught me that, remember?”

It was then that they connected. In a fifties-style diner that, corny jukebox playing in the corner, Bo swore they served the best milkshakes in town and Lauren couldn‘t disagree. Bo may have slept with the waitress, tonight she only had eyes for Lauren.  
__

The television shone in the darkness of his living room. Sitting on his abandoned couch in his abandoned apartment, she held her knees to her chest, covered over with a throw. She visited the cemetery today, not to see Hale, instead to visit herself. Truth was she couldn’t bear to think of him buried six feet under. How it was easier for her to talk to herself, resurrected, about a fictional future that could never be was oddly opposite.

She laid on the grass above her plot, occasionally reaching for the cold stone headstone as she tried to connect with her old self. The happy, snarky self that derived more pleasure from beautiful boots than she did from sex. But she kept coming back to Hale, wishing Bo had never saved her from the realms. Wishing she could drift endlessly in her memories, like Hale never left her, that Bo couldn’t save him.

After hours passed and she grew hungry, she crunched on Cheetos and sipped a Coke Zero. Little by little she was saying goodbye to Hale, letting him go, letting herself go. She traced the stone etching on her headstone, kissed her palm and pressed it over the word H E A R T. She stood, reaching into the pocket of Hale’s well-worn blazer to warm her hands when her finger cleaved a piece of paper. She withdrew the paper and read it aloud.

Dear Kenzi,

If you’re reading this, I am gone. All my life I have known that I had a purpose. Nursery rhymes that weren’t really about children’s things hid a prophecy that wasn’t even about me. And in my life, I have been with my share of women, but I knew they weren’t you, the one I was meant to die for. The one who was meant to shift the prophecy into motion.

That first day we tracked you and Bo to that alley and I used my Siren’s whistle on you, I knew. I knew she was the One and you were mine. And then as we became friends, I was certain that you were the one I would die for. You were the one I would leave behind. But you were my Little Mama and I couldn’t bear to break your heart. 

But if you’re reading this then I’ve gone ahead and broke your heart anyway. For that I am sorry. I only wanted to love you and be with you as long as this world allowed.

Hale

Now, hours later, she held the plain card between her fingers, turning it over and over and over again. He knew all along that he was going to die and take their happiness. She wanted to be angry for letting her fall so completely in love with him, but she couldn’t. If someone told her the she’d meet her true love when she started on this crazy adventure with Bo she would have laughed in their face. But it made perfect sense. She had given up on Nate because she couldn’t tell him the truth about what she and Bo did and she wanted to keep him safe. Had she known about Hale she would have done everything in her power protect him as well.  
__


	5. Chapter 5

Three quick raps on the door had Bo reaching for her sword and Lauren unlocking some pepper spray as Bo went to answer it.

“I didn’t know if it was customary to knock on a barn door. I didn’t want to startle the animals.” Evony smirked.

Lauren pulled Bo’s shoulder back and passed in front of her. “Have a seat.” She gestured to the couch. “I’ll be right back.” 

As Lauren disappeared upstairs The Morrigan paced around the sofa before turning toward Bo. “This place is so…unique!” she said derisively, looking around. “Let me guess. Martha Stewart prison collection or perhaps dumpster diving Barbie‘s dream home?”

When Lauren returned with a briefcase a short time later she slid it onto the coffee table, unlocking it swiftly and cracking the briefcase open. Snapping on a pair of latex gloves, she pulled a vial from the rows of samples and loaded the syringe gun. Lauren grabbed Evony’s wiry arm with less compassion than expected and tied a rubber tube around her bicep. Feeling for her vein, Lauren pressed her thumb against the her skin, swabbed the area and inserted the syringe into Evony’s arm.

“Why Doctor, had I known you liked to be so rough, we could have had some real fun together.”

“Do you feel any different?” Lauren ignored her comment, taping a cotton ball to the needle mark.

“I could throw up, but that feeling comes up a lot around the two of you.”

Bo grumbled, pacing behind the couch. She had far less patience for Evony than Lauren did. 

“Take a minute, just sit back and relax and let the serum do its job.” Lauren stood up, removing the latex gloves and walking to the kitchen to discard them. 

Evony began to cough, clearing her throat. “Water,” she rubbed her throat as if to soothe it. Bo rolled her eyes and followed Lauren to the kitchen. With their backs turned, Evony reached into the case and stole a test tube of Lauren’s denaturing serum. Bo walked toward her, holding out the glass of water. Evony looked at it in horror. “Is this tap water? What are you troglodytes?” When Lauren returned to her side she stood quickly. “I’m afraid I don’t feel any different and I have little time or inclination to be your guinea pig any longer.” She tucked her handbag under her arm and strolled toward the front door. “Wish I could say it was a pleasure, but,” she sighed, “I can’t.”   
__

Her mouth pressed against Lauren’s. It was a hungry, needy kiss. One that said the faster, the better. Bo’s hands were in her hair.

“This isn’t going to solve anything,” Lauren whispered between kisses.

“We’re not a Rubik’s cube, Lauren, we don’t need solving.”

Lauren ducked her head and exhaled a quiet laugh. “You know what I mean.”

Bo tore at her top, wrenching it over Lauren’s head, running her hands up her bare sides before kissing her again. They were stumbling up the stairs, losing clothing as they went. In the bedroom, she pushed Bo onto the bed and straddled her hips. Hovering above her, Lauren unfastened her bra and tossed it to the side. Instinctually, Bo reached for her breasts but Lauren grabbed her wrists before she could and pinned them at her sides.

“Doctor,” Bo said with a smile. 

“Hmm?” She said caught up in the beauty beneath her.

“You’re staring.” Bo tried to wriggle free.

Lauren swallowed. “I know.” Her eyes were wide, sparkling as she spoke. Her emotions ebbed just at the surface as she released Bo’s wrists. But instead of Bo flipping her onto her back and sinking into her, she waited for Lauren to catch up, for her to express whatever it was she was so afraid to say. “It’s always been you,” she whispered. “I always knew you’d be the one to change the world the way you’ve changed mine.”

Bo reached a hand up to cradle Lauren’s face. “And I couldn’t have done any of that without you.“

There was a moment when Lauren looked into Bo’s eyes and she understood. It passed like a flicker before she kissed Bo hard and let it all fall away. Her heart pounded against her breast, her breathing was ragged, and she felt the pure panic of being alive.

She was rough at times, tender at others. She was as only she could be as Fae. It was a transcendent exchange, she never quite caught her breath as she moved against Bo. It was as it always was since Lauren had taken the DNA of Eir, the goddess healer. Mind-blowing orgasms, one after another, the hesitant feed by Bo and the drain she felt afterwards. 

As she fell onto her back, Bo moved above her, it was then that Lauren made a sound that actually broke Bo’s heart. A sob, an audible gasp of air and then silence as fast as it had come. Bo pressed her ear against Lauren’s heart, which beat mightily against her ear.

“I don’t want to be Fae anymore,” Lauren whispered into the darkness.

Bo knew in her heart that Lauren belonged to her herself as a human. That was her fate, But it also didn’t change the fact that she loved being with Fae Lauren as well. Bo was being selfish and she knew it. Truth was, she had grown tired of taking Lauren’s chi, something even Bo regarded as precious, a few short days after they had explored feeding on Lauren. She tasted sublime, a universe was held in her kiss and when Bo fed, it was Elysian. But Bo knew it wasn’t sustainable, that it would eventually end and above all, she knew in her soul that it wasn’t right. For all the reasons that Bo had not fed on Lauren when she was human, she still felt the same way.

Bo rubbed the back of Lauren’s hand. “I support you. Whatever you decide.” 

“But you--” Lauren started.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve said something sooner.” Bo trained her eyes on Lauren. “I,” she hesitated. “I don’t want to feed on you anymore.” Lauren sagged. For all her effort in giving Bo what she thought she needed, she now felt the rejection crush her. But Bo was right. They couldn’t keep going the way they were. “It’s not you, you know.”

Lauren laughed, her bitterness showing through. “Flatter me.” She shook her head.

“Hey,” she whispered, reconnecting with Lauren. “We’re gonna be fine.”

“How can you be so sure?” She asked, still stinging from before.

“Because nothing’s changed,” Bo reaffirmed, taking Lauren’s hands into her own. 

Lauren looked into the mess of fingers and nodded. Why fight over something they both agreed on? She, too, had found the everyday feed to be too much for her body to handle but she hid that from Bo, as well, wanting to endure for her because that’s what Lauren thought she needed.

“You know, I never thought I’d miss being what I have resented for so long. But the longer this experiment goes on, the less special I feel, like being human was what made me exceptional.”

“You’re still special, Lauren. Fae or human, you always will be.”

The smile that spread across her cheeks then was extraordinary. Lauren rested her forehead on Bo’s bare shoulder and sighed. They lay silently, unmoving for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes. Bo figured it was safe to change the subject before Lauren drifted off.

“What’re we gonna do about Kenzi? I’ve searched high and low and I lost her trail the first day she was gone. In the cemetery.”

“The cemetery?”

“Yeah, Tamsin and I found the worst picnic ever on her grave.”

Lauren sat up. “I know where she is.”   
__

The Camaro snarled as Bo pushed it faster. One day, Lauren thought, Bo was going to throw a rod in the aging car. But Bo only lived for the moment, and right now they were sprinting towards Kenzi. For the second time in two weeks, Bo and Lauren were running to rescue their raven-haired BFF. 

“I hope you’re right about this.”

“Me too,” Lauren said quietly. She watched the side mirror carefully.

Bo slowed to a respectable speed as they passed through the downtown core and parked in a pay lot, but, in true Bo style, she avoided paying by conning a parking lot attendant with a quirk of her mouth and a touch of her hand.

The elevator in Hale’s building smelled like cigar smoke. She guessed Fae didn’t take kindly to human rules and regulations and that they held even less regard for their presence in their apartment buildings.

The car dinged as the doors open and Bo led the way to Hale’s apartment. Lauren rapped on the door before Bo pushed through it and into the apartment.

“Kenzi? Kenz?” Bo called as she cased the apartment and turned up no sign of Kenzi.

Lauren went through the garbage on the countertop. A daily paper from a day ago, a fast food receipt from the night before and an empty bottle of wine. 

Bo circled back to Lauren. “She’s not here.”

“She was,” Lauren lifted a piece of trash from the countertop.

She walked to the couch and sat next to a pile of blankets. The sweet scent of Kenzi’s perfume hit her in a plume when she sat down. “I need her to be okay.”

Lauren crossed to the couch and settled beside Bo. “She’s going to be fine.” Lauren wrapped her arms around Bo’s neck and hugged her close.

“Aw, man,” the voice crackled through the silence. “Please tell me you still have your clothes on.”

“Kenzi!” Bo smiled and turned to face the pluckiest human they knew. “We’ve been worried sick about you.” She gathered Kenzi up into an embrace.

Lauren stood and crossing her arms, she enjoyed the reunion. She barely heard the syringe dart leave the gun when she saw the flash, shooting through the distance and into Bo’s thigh. Bo grunted, as her eyes flashed blue, the color suddenly faded from them. She was exhausted. “Lauren?” 

“Three little humans sitting in a tree, which one holds onto destiny?”

“What are you even talking about?” Bo growled. She slipped away from Kenzi and made a move toward Evony when her henchman shook his head and pointed at Lauren who had another gun trained on her.

“Well isn’t this sweet?” Evony purred. “What’s next, matching tattoos and necklaces?”

“I gave you what you wanted,” Lauren said.

“You gave me promises,” Evony snapped. “I’m still a feeble human and you did this to me.”

“Lauren,” Bo swayed, dizzy. She turned towards Evony. “What did you do to me?” Bo snapped.

“Isn’t is obvious, really? You’re human, too!” She cackled. “And tonight,” she started. “Tonight you’re all going to brush off this mortal coil. Together.”

Lauren knew she had the power to change their fates, her super speed alone would guarantee someone’s safety if she could just wait till the gunmen were distracted, she could make her move. She caught Kenzi’s eye, who just so happened to be the best distraction Lauren could ask for. Stealthily, she tore the bottom from the paper bag she was carrying until the contents spilled onto the floor. “Aw, man!” Kenzi added for effect. When the gunmen were trained on Kenzi, Lauren made her move. She dashed towards the one closest to her with lightning speed, she stepped behind him and broke his neck. He squeaked off a few rounds before falling to the floor. The second gunman turned his weapon on her and she dodged another round of bullets before punching him and bouncing his head off the breakfast bar. The last two henchmen flanked Evony, who smiled at Lauren’s surprising new abilities.

“Looks like someone’s been double-dipping in her own research. What are you gonna do now? Think you can kill them both before they kill you?” The henchmen looked at one another and then at Evony.

“It’s a chance I’m willing to take.” Lauren walked toward the gunmen, head high and eyes clear. This was her destiny. This was why Eir was still coursing through her veins. To save her family.

When Lauren lunged at the men, they exploded in gunfire, spraying the room as they tried to track her. Lauren, who was already behind them, snapped their necks as the bullets ricocheted. She smiled and looked over her shoulder at Bo and Kenzi. Kenzi was slumped against the sofa, bleeding from her abdomen and Bo was laying on the floor. “Bo!” she scrambled to her side. The bullet had pierced her lung and it was filling with blood. Lauren acted quickly, covering the wound with her healing hands. The white light shone from the wound and soon Bo’s breathing was back to normal. She crawled over Kenzi next, covering her stomach with her hand. Again, the healing white light poured from her palms and soon Kenzi was gasping for breath. 

Lauren stood and slowly advanced on Evony. “You wouldn’t let me die, Doctor, would you?” Evony had collapsed next to the breakfast bar, a pool of blood surrounding her, arterial spray, Lauren noted before she covered her leg with her hand and began to heal her. About halfway through the healing, Lauren began to feel nauseous. As the light faded from her touch, Lauren collapsed.

“I told you, you’d die here tonight,” Evony sneered as she sat up.

“Lauren!” Bo called out, standing to rush to her side.

Lauren looked down at her stomach and the blood soaked shirt. She covered the wound but her healing hands were no more. It had finally faded away and she was about to follow. Dizzy, thirsty and sick with pain, the last thing she remembered was collapsing into Bo’s arms and Kenzi swearing at the 911 operator.  
__

Bo sat in the corner of the waiting room, brooding into a copy of Time magazine. Kenzi approached her carefully, lifting a Vogue magazine from her bag. She slid it between the pages of the Time magazine Bo was reading. 

“Go home, Kenzi.” The exhaustion in Bo’s voice was evident. 

“Nuh-uh. Lauren risked her life for me and the least I can do is be here when she wakes up.”

“More than can be said for me.” Bo lamented.

Kenzi sat next to Bo. “Look, I’m sorry for running out on you.” She leaned in to whisper, “I had my reasons.”

“Well, if you had your reasons,” Bo said bitterly.

She was human, something that came to her begrudgingly. That held her trapped in it’s wiry arms, held so close to its breast that she could barely breathe. Or was that the fear Bo was holding in as Lauren entered hour nine of surgery. Bo paced the waiting room like a caged animal. And though she felt feral, she was about as dangerous as a bunny rabbit. She rested her forehead against the wall. “I’m going to check with the nurse again.”

“Easy Laverne, I’ll go check on Shirley. You’re in no condition to be talking to other humans right now,” Kenzi teased.

Bo dropped into the uncomfortable waiting room chair and sighed. She was human. Human. Just when she had gotten used to the perks of being Fae she found herself here at the juncture of weird and weirder. She could be with Lauren, fully committed. She’d also have to get a real job. Her whole life was going to change. She couldn’t let herself think about what would happen if Lauren didn’t wake up. That simply was not an option. She would not be without her. She stared at the pile of parenting magazines sitting on the table in the center of the room and felt sick. They had talked about the vague possibility of children but Bo never made time for further discussion and her life, frankly, was far too dangerous for children. Just look at what had happened to them tonight.

She stood and was about to breach the waiting room when Kenzi held up a hand. “Back in your cage, lady bait. The doctor will be in soon.”

“It’s over?” Bo sighed in relief.

“She’s good, you know Lauren. She’s a fighter,” Kenzi said.

When the doctor came in he was less optimistic. Grave, even. He said he had never seen wounds like Lauren’s. There were only a few entrance wounds for her belly full of lead. But Lauren had endured hours of surgery and come out the other side. How well she would fare, only time would tell. It would be a long recovery but with a little help from her friends--her family--she would be on the mend in a short time.

“I want to see her.”

They made her wait an hour before they brought her to Lauren’s bedside in recovery but she had not yet woke. The fluorescent lights hummed as the nurses moved quietly about the nurses station. When she set eyes on Lauren’s prone body, it was a kick to the gut. She couldn’t breathe and she couldn’t run, she had to stay put and stop staring while she was at it. Walk, she implored her legs. She stood at the foot of Lauren’s bed. Bo’s hands covered her toes, squeezing gently.

“You did good in there.” Bo walked toward the head of the bed and to Lauren’s side. She sat in the chair beside the bed and watched the feet stumble in and out of the curtain beside them. She brought Lauren’s hand to her lips. “And what you did at Hale’s was incredible. I mean, wow. I never knew that you could do all those things.” Her eyes glanced over Lauren’s pale face, the IV tubes snaking from her arm, to the beeping machines that monitored her condition. “But I need you to come back to me now. Something has happened, turned this all on its head and I need you to help me make sense of it.” Bo looked down at their hands. “And I know you’re always helping me with my problems but this time, I think you and Kenzi are the only ones--”

“Bo,” a gravelly voice said.

The transformation in Bo’s features then was remarkable. Her eyes softened and her eyebrows raised as she smiled upon the awakening doctor. “You made it,” she said, relieved.

“Sorry, I’m late,” Lauren said with a hint of mirth.

Bo kissed Lauren’s hand again. “You’re right on time.”  
__


	6. Chapter 6

Lauren had been working her way through the New York Times crossword puzzle since breakfast. She looked over at the discarded tray and then to Bo, who was still curled in the chair beside her hospital bed.

A knock sounded against the hospital door and Lauren looked up to find Dyson poking his head into the room as Bo roused and leapt to her feet, dagger in hand. Lauren’s hand wrapped around Bo’s wrist as Dyson held up his hands in mock surrender.

“Is the Doctor taking visitors?” He asked, flashing a smile and waggling a bouquet of flowers above his head.

Lauren’s smile faded when Tamsin followed him into the room. She watched her place a stuffed bear with a lab coat and stethoscope next to the flowers from Dyson and raise a hand in an awkward wave. “How’s it going?” She said.

Bo smiled sheepishly, sinking back into her chair as the pair entered the room. “As well as we can be after a small army of ogres,” she replied, sliding the knife back into it’s holster.

“That’s what I heard,” Dyson said, standing at the end of the bed. “How are you doing?”

Lauren nodded carefully. “Sore, but healing faster than doctors expected.”

“She always was an overachiever.” Kenzi crunched on a mouthful of french fries on her way into the room and poked the cheeseburger on her cafeteria tray. She offered the fries to Tamsin, who happily stole a few. “Did they tell you I got shot?”

Tamsin’s eyebrows raised as she finished her mouthful. “What?” she said finally.

“Totally. Oh my God. Me and Bo and that bitch the Morrigan, too, bleeding everywhere.” Kenzi put the tray down. “Then SuperDoc over here saved our collective asses before she gave out herself.” She pulled her shirt up baring her navel. “See?” she said, turning around in a circle. “Not even a scar. She’s a faeking miracle worker.”

“Well, I left Evony with a scar.” She smiled and Tamsin nodded with a smirk.

“Bo can I see you in the hall for a minute?” Dyson asked. He looked at Lauren. “I’ll bring her right back, promise.” Bo smiled at Lauren before lifting herself from the chair. Kenzi quickly filled the void and continued the animated story to catch Tamsin up.

Dyson stopped her just outside the door and touched her arm. “So when were you going to tell us that you’re human?” he whispered.

“It’s just another one of Evony’s parlor tricks,” Bo reassured him. “Lauren’s working on it.”

“Don’t you mean Lauren’s parlor tricks?”

Bo rolled her eyes with a sigh and looked down the hall behind him. “I’m not having this conversation with you right now, Dyson.”

“Bo, you are in danger without your powers.”

“And I’m dealing with that,” she pulled away. “I don’t need you to rescue me anymore. Besides, I hear you have a new project to worry about.”

Dyson looked back into the room at Tamsin and swallowed. “I was going to tell you about that.” His voice was low, a near-growl. “You should lay low until Lauren figures it out. The Morrigan will be gunning for you both.”

“And how is that any different from any other day?”

Tamsin cleared her voice gently from the door way. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said and looked at Dyson. “Just got a call from the station. They want us over at Hale’s to work the scene.”

“But we’ve already been there.”

Tamsin shrugged. “The family wants answers as to why there was a shootout at his apartment.”

Dyson sighed and looked through the door at Lauren and Kenzi. “Don’t worry,” he told Bo. “We’ll think of something.” He looked at her seriously. “But be careful. I don’t think the Dark are the only ones you need to worry about.”  
__

The television blared, her neighbor continued to wail and the nurses squeaky sneakers heralded her arrival with Lauren’s lunch. The stale smell of hospital food accompanied her as she smiled and set the covered plate in front of her. Kenzi bounced on the foot of Lauren’s hospital bed as she waited for her to relinquish her Jell-O and Bo sat beside Lauren, picking her brain about the serum that took her Fae.

“So you’re saying it’ll come back on its own?”

“Not exactly,” a voice from the hall said. At the sight of Evony, Bo pulled her dagger and held it aloft. The Morrigan laughed heartily. “Do you even know how to use that anymore, Human?”

Kenzi laughed. “Like Bo would forget how to cut a bitch.”

“What do you want, Evony?” Lauren asked.

“Honey! Can’t a girl visit her friend in the hospital?” She sashayed into the room.

“Not when you’re the one that put her here,” Bo said, lowering her weapon.

“So, I did.” Evony admitted. “But I feel really bad about it.” She pouted.

“Why are you here?” Bo asked.

“She has her powers back,” Lauren warned.

Evony set a bouquet of flowers on the side table. “And how did you guess that?” 

“You’re glowing, your skin is tighter and you’ve got that you’ve got that self-satisfied smile again.”

“Oh, Doctor,” Evony purred. “You do flatter me so.” She reached out for Lauren but Bo wrenched her arm behind her back. The Morrigan laughed nervously. “Easy Succu-hulk, I wouldn’t want you to shred those tight pants of yours.”

“I don’t think we’re buying what you’re selling today,” Bo growled into Evony’s ear and tightened her grip on the arm behind The Morrigan‘s back.

“I want a truce,” Evony blurted.

Lauren motioned to Bo, who in turn released Evony. “Why the sudden change of heart?” Lauren asked.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? You saved my life and for that, I will spare yours.” Evony turned in the doorway. “But you’ve made more enemies than you realize. And some deals with the devil come at a higher price than you will ever know.”

“Quit the cloak and dagger shit,” Bo said. “If you’ve got something to say, just say it.”

The Morrigan’s face scrunched up in uber delight. Holding it in was killing her and Bo could almost pinpoint the moment her willpower gave out. Her mouth quirked as she spoke. “Has your family ever betrayed you in a way so vile, so heinous that you could never forgive them?”

Bo stood stoically in the center of the room. “Say what you’re going to say or get out.”

Evony tittered. “Why it was Trick who put the hit on Lauren. Asked me personally.” She pouted. “Not such a happy family after all.” She grinned and turned with a flourish. “Good luck at your next family reunion,” she called over her shoulder as she disappeared down the hall.

Kenzi’s eyes were wide. “Trickster? She’s lying, right?”

“I don’t think that she is,” Lauren said solemnly, looking over at Bo who’s quiet fury was taking hold.  
__

Hours later, Bo hugged her sides, the chill of the hospital settling in her bones. The sounds of footsteps loomed closer, Bo’s eyes turned to Lauren, who lay asleep in the bed beside her. She sat up in the chair that she had slept in since Lauren had been admitted. This meant Bo was beyond tired. Her new human form felt fatigue like a blanket of pain that she fought. She would stay awake and protect Lauren.

Shoes scraped on the linoleum in the hall as they rounded the corner to Lauren’s doorway. The diminutive Blood King stood with a small bouquet of flowers in his hand.

Bo looked up. “Get out,” she spat.

“Bo, I had no choice.”

“Bullshit!” A hush fell over the room in the wake of her outburst.

“She broke the rules, Bo. The Fae are not a science experiment.”

“Who made you the enforcer?” She snapped. 

“Bo, you’re my granddaughter. Please, be reasonable.”

Bo stood and began to walk toward Trick. “You put a hit out on the woman I love. That’s not the kind of family I want to be a part of.” With that Bo leaned on the door to Lauren’s room, shutting the door in Trick’s face. There would be no more visitors tonight. Bo would rest her weary bones, always at the ready as the night passed and the morning would bring a new set of challenges that she would face with her real family.  
__

Ever since she was changed, Bo would lie awake at night, long after Lauren had drifted off. She remained, curled around Lauren, holding on for dear life. Lauren was home now, living with her and Kenzi at the clubhouse. It was like it had always been. They were equals in every sense of the word now--they were humans. Bo had spent years of her life wanting to shove off her Succubus powers and return to her human upbringing but now that it was happening, after everything she had done to tame her Fae, Bo was flailing. 

“Hey,” Lauren said, cupping Bo‘s cheek. “I’ll fix this.” She smiled convincingly and Bo wanted so badly to believe her.

“Lauren,” she shook her head and smiled. 

“Trust me,” Lauren whispered.

Kenzi and Lauren made it look so easy. Kenzi was fearless and self-assured, Lauren was whip-smart and ever-resourceful. Bo didn’t know what she was, but she felt clumsy and lost.

Lauren raised herself up on her forearms and looked over at Bo. “We should go somewhere.”

“Like the movies or Egypt?” Bo smirked.

Lauren laid her head on Bo‘s chest. “Remember when we used to talk about traveling the world together?” 

“Yeah.“ Bo tucked her arms behind her head. “But who has the money?”

“I do. I made some shrewd investments.”

“Well, we can’t up and leave everything,” Bo reasoned.

Lauren kneeled on the bed beside Bo, reaching out for her hand. “Don’t you think we might be safer if we just took a break from here?”

“You mean run away.” Bo grew cold.

“Bo,” she whispered. “This isn’t about running away, it’s about keeping us safe.”

Lauren was taking care of her, even now, but Bo resisted. She resisted because she still held the belief that she was the one who takes care of everyone else. Later, when Lauren had drifted off and Bo could loosen her grip, she rolled away. Standing, she slipped into her kimono and stood at the end of the bed watching Lauren sleep before reluctantly retreating.

She went straight for the wine bottle on the counter downstairs, the crimson liquid glugging indelicately as she filled her glass. She sipped the wine as she walked to the sofa and, sitting down in the corner of the couch, she tucked her feet beneath her. The red wine was a simple pleasure but as a human, she found its importance magnified. Three glasses later, she also found its effect magnified. 

As she poured a fourth, she heard Kenzi approach. “You know, getting shit-faced alone when you’re human is called being an alcoholic.”

Bo dragged her feet back to the couch and dropped like a cannonball into its cushions. Kenzi shrugged and poured herself a glass. 

“So you wanna talk about it?” Kenzi walked toward the sofa. 

“Where do I even start? My grandfather tried to kill my girlfriend, after finally figuring out how to be Fae, I’m human, Lauren doesn’t think we’re safe as humans in this town and wants to ‘take a break’ from it, too. Did she talk to you about that?”

Kenzi nodded. “She did.”

“Are you coming with?”

“Are you kidding me? You, me and Hotpants sharing hotel rooms across Europe? No offense, but I’d rather stay here and take my chances with the Fae.” 

“Are we really that bad?”

Kenzi laughed. “Yes. I mean, it’s not so bad now that you’re human but honestly, I don’t know how she keeps up with you.”

“It’s different now.”

“Shorter.” She nodded.

“It means more,” Bo sighed.

“You’re finally making love, Bo-Bo.” Kenzi punched her arm playfully.

“We’ve done that before,” Bo said defensively. “A lot.”

Kenzi was right, it was different. They had made love before, of that Bo was sure, but what was different was that before, once was never enough. That damn biological imperative kept her pressing for more. Her hunger was gone now and what she was left with was genuine interest and arousal. The slow burn of wanting Lauren as she drifted through the day was crazy-making. How she would feel thirsty for wanting a kiss and blinded by pure need. And sometimes, they didn’t have sex at all. Sometimes, they just held each other and strangely, that was enough.

“Hello?” Kenzi waved a hand in front of Bo’s face. “We were talking, Madame Ovaries.”

“Sorry.” Bo shook her head as if trying to clear her thoughts.

“So the Doc’s been working on something to help you get your Fae back?”

Bo sighed. “You know Lauren.”

“I do know Lauren,” Kenzi started. “And I know if there’s anyone that can get your Fae back, it’s her.”

“Yeah.” Bo swirled what was left of her wine in the glass. “It’s kind of nice though… Not being a slave to my biology.”

“You have to be Fae, Bo, it’s who you are.”

“I know, Kenzi, I just…” Bo sighed again. “It’s just so different, how I feel and with Lauren…” she trailed off when she saw Kenzi avert her eyes. “I’m sorry.” Bo hung her head.

Kenzi nodded. “It’s okay, Bo, you’re in love--”

“No, I should be more sensitive,” Bo interrupted. 

Kenzi nodded into her wine glass. She cleared her throat. “Did you know that he knew he was going to die?”

“Don’t we all?” Bo asked seriously.

“Says the pessimist.” Kenzi’s expression grew sad.

Bo set her glass down on the coffee table and sat up straight. “Kenz, I know how easy it is to go round and round after someone dies, but at some point you’re going to wake up and half your life has been spent asking ‘why?’ and the person you love is still gone.”

Kenzi’s eyes brimmed with tears. Her voice was shaky. “How long do you think it would take you to get over Lauren?”

Bo exhaled and looked skyward. She shook her head. “Never.” Kenzi waited for the realization to dawn on Bo. Three…two…one… Bo squeezed her eyes shut. “Shit.” She looked around. “I’m sorry.”  
__

Lauren stared at the words on the page in her book but couldn’t make sense of any of it. The letters mixed, jumbling the harder she stared at them. She dropped the book onto the bed and sat up. Running a hand through her hair, she sighed. Bo had crept away a few hours ago and Lauren had been tossing and turning ever since. Truth was, Lauren couldn’t sleep much lately either. The weight of the world seemed to have found her shoulders. She had been playing God and it caught up with her. She had single-handedly changed everything about their lives and like all great minds that had inadvertently caused harm, her regrets outweighed her enjoyment of her victories.

It had started like any experiment. A long shot. A crazy thought that came to her at two a.m., drunk on good brandy, and breathless from making love. She leapt out of bed and began scribbling notes in the margins of the take out menus as Bo looked on.

“Was it something I said?”

“Hm?” Lauren wrote furiously next to the appetizers. “No, no, just… thought of something.”

Bo propped her head in her hand and watched Lauren write, think, and write some more. It didn’t happen all the time, but often enough that she knew she needed to wait it out. Bo flattened the folds in her sheets with her hand. Lauren finished her thought and looked up at Bo, who waited patiently for her to return to bed.

And that was how it started. A few equations, a theory and dogged determination. After Taft, the research was a natural progression of a twisted thought. An alternate reality borne of revenge and anger. She wasn’t proud of her capacity to harbor these feelings but she also wasn’t ready to let go of how the Fae had betrayed her. And above anything else, she knew her experiment had the power to help Bo, too.

After the success with Evony, Lauren was emboldened and didn’t fear the consequences of using her experimental serums. She used them to protect Bo and Kenzi, and that meant that she was sprinting through the snow, snapping necks of ogres and finally letting Bo feed on her. She had lost sight of why she was doing this. 

The stairs creaked and Lauren looked up to find Bo peeking around the corner. “You’re up?” 

Lauren sat up. “Yeah,” she nodded. She didn’t say that she hadn’t slept a wink since Bo retreated to the main floor.

“You wanna talk about it?” Bo asked, sitting on the edge of the bed beside Lauren.

Lauren could swear that tumbleweeds blew in and time stood still. There was so much that they needed to discuss that the thought of actually talking about things seemed crippling. “Yes,” she said finally. Bo smoothed a hand over Lauren’s thigh and she drew in a breath. “I’m scared that I’ve messed things up so badly that we won’t be able to recover.”

“No.” Bo shook her head. “You may have turned our world on its head, but I have every faith that you can fix this. Fix me.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because I’ve never seen you fail at anything.”

In that moment, Lauren saw exactly how Bo saw her. And as flattering as it was, Lauren felt helpless to live up to the hype. “Bo…”

“I know, no pressure.” Even as a human, Bo could smile that smile that made Lauren believe anything she said. “We’re gonna be fine.”

And Lauren knew she was right.   
__

Fin


End file.
